Process for graining and ornamental painting



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

VILLIAM J. POTTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38.412, dated May 5, 1863.

- sents the implement with which the grainin g and other lornamental painting is produced, consisting of a roller constructed somewhat like that used forinking the type in hand-printing presses.

The nature of my invention consists in the employment of a roller of wood or other suitable material (marked A in the drawings,) Whose convex surface is covered or coated with a soft elastic substance which is stamped or impressed with the design of the wood to be imitated, in relief, in the following manner: I first apply a uniform coat of paint of the proper color to the surface which is to be grained or ornamented. I then apply to the said roller a certain liquid compound, hereinafter to be described, and pass the said roller over and upon the surface so uniformly painted as aforesaid, and after allowing enough time to elapse to permit'the paint to become dry the surface is then rubbed over, and from those portions and spots upon which the said compound was pressed the paint is readily removed, and thus the design to be imitated or grained is ei'ected in this latter method, not by stampingthe design upon the surface to be ornamented, but by removing the necessary portion, spots, and lines in a manner similar to the old method.

To enable those skilled in the art to linderstand and make use of my invention, I will now describe the same with particularity.

In the rst place I provide myself with the roller A, constructed substantially as shown in the drawing, and provided with the handle C, whereby it may be operated. A wood engraving is then prepared, representing the imitation of any wood or ornamental design that is required.

The design may be so engraved as to represent those parts which are required to be in relief upon the roller, by depressions, so that when a cast or impression on the elastic coating of the roller is taken from the engraving it will present the required design in relief 5 but I consider it a better way to en grave the design, required on the roller, in relief, and'to take from this a plaster-cast from which` the requisite impression may be molded.

After preparing the wood-en graving or the plaster-cast taken therefrom, as may be preferred, I proceed to prepare the following composition, in which to mold the engraved designs, and which is afterward xed upon the convex surface of the roller. This composition is prepared as follows: I take one pound of glue and soak the same in water for about two hours. I then add to the glue one pint of molasses,four table-spoonfuls of oil of tar, one ounce of lamp-black, one table-spoonful of olive oil, and one-half of ateaspoonful of soda. I then place this mixture in a can or small ves-V sel, which is then set into a vessel of boiling water and boiled about one and one-half hours, being stirred at intervals during the whole period. After 'this composition has become partially cooled, it is poured upon the engraving of the design from which the impression is to be molded, enough being used to render the composition of suticient thickness, (say from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in thickness,) where it remains until perfectly cold, when it becomes solid and elastic. It is then removed, retaining an exact impression of the engraving, and is fixed upon the convex surface of the roller, and is represented by B in the drawing.

The surface to be ornamentedis rst painted over with a uniform coat of paint of the proper color, and the convex surface of the roller moistened with the followingdescribed liquid compound, the quantity referred to in the description being one-half pint: one part of olive oil, one part of cod-liver oil, one part of oil of almonds, one part of water in which half a tea-spoonful of soda has been dissolved, four tea-spoonfuls of French chalk, twenty drops of the oil of tar, and a littleVenetian red or other coloring-matter. Having applied this mixture to the surface of the roller, the latter is then rolled upon the surface to be grained, painted uniformly, as aforesaid, printing or stamping upon the painted surface the design on the roller with the aforesaid compound.

After the paint has had time to dry, the sur-` face is rubbed over, and the paint readily removed from those parts upon which the saidv compound was painted, leaving the graining or ornamentin g accomplished in the most perfeet manner.

Vhere long or large surfaces are to be operated upon, a feeding attachment may beattached to the roller to supply the same with the compound last described, thereby making it unnecessary to remove the roller, greatly facilitating the labor.

I do not confine myself to the particular elastic coating for the roller, which I have described, or the particular compound for taking out the paint, but any suitable material of the Witnesses:

W. E. Manns, J AMES WrsEMAN. 

